Volume 3, Issue 2
December 1, 2013
Literacy Studies Ph.D. Program, Middle Tennessee State University
Newsletter
Faculty Profile: Jwa Kim, Ph.D., Program Director
ment of Educational Sciences
at my Alma Mater in 1980.
Program Director
Jwa Kim, Ph.D.
Jwa.Kim@mtsu.edu
615-904-8419 COE 321
In 1984, I came to the University of Oklahoma to further my
study in Quantitative Psychology. In 1989, I graduated from
the University of Oklahoma in
Quantitative Psychology specialized in item response theory
(IRT).
Practica and Teaching Assistantships
Aleka Blackwell, Ph.D.
Aleka.Blackwell@mtsu.edu
615-898-5960 PH 370
Program Secretary
Angela Morrell
Angela.Morrell@mtsu.edu
615-904-8434 COE 316
Program Email:
literacy@mtsu.edu
I was raised in Daegu, South
Korea, and I graduated from
Kyungpook National University
with a B.Ed. degree in Educational Sciences and an M.Ed. in
Educational Psychology from
the same university. Then I
started teaching in the Depart-
In 2004, I was part of the proposal team for the Literacy
Studies Ph.D. Program. For
four years, I had worked with
the team to start the Literacy
Studies Program. Finally in
2008, the Program had three
students to start with.
My research interests include
ability estimation through IRT
both in uni-dimensional and
multi-dimensional settings, multivariate data analysis, scale
development, and structural
equation modeling (SEM).
Currently I am working on
model recovery in multidimensional IRT and Latent
Growth Curve Analysis with
depression data.
This is my 25th year at MTSU ,
and my 6th year with the Literacy Studies Ph.D. Program. I
hope as the program grows that
we will resolve some of the
growing literacy issues within
the field.
Student Profile: Danica Booth
Inside this issue:
Faculty Profile
1
Student Profile
1-2
Pennsylvania in the late 1800s. My
grandmother taught parochial
school for 33 years. I even taught
Sunday school and gymnastics
during high school and college, but
I did not give in easily to what is
apparently a family legacy. It took
awhile, a few degrees, a few international trips, and a stint as a journalist before I realized my calling.
Conferences/Workshops 2
Publications/
Presentations
3-4
Publications in the field
3-4
Faculty and Student
News
3
Program News
4
I am not one of those people who
knew instantaneously that I wanted to be a teacher. My great
grandfather was a teacher in
I was born in Wisconsin, and I was
raised in Mt. Juliet, TN. I graduated high school with highest honors
from Mt. Juliet High School in
1999.
I attended Austin Peay State University where I earned a Bachelor
of Arts in Foreign Languages with a
Minor in Communications (2002)
and a Master of Arts in English
(2003). After graduating, I taught
as an adjunct instructor in English
at Austin Peay. Then I moved to
Daegu, South Korea where I taught
English to Kindergarteners through
high school students at YBM Sisa
English Center for Children.
I decided to return to teaching in the
Newsletter
Student Profile (continued)
GOT NEWS?
We would like to publish your news in
our newsletters. Please let us know if
you have published, presented or
performed other newsworthy events!
Also, if you have questions you’d like
answered, please email us the questions and we’ll try to provide the
answers in the next newsletter.
Email: dlj3z@mtmail.mtsu.edu
Annual MTSU Linguistics Olympiad
February 1, 2014
Email Dr. Blackwell if you’d like to
help out by pretesting problems
or serving as a judge.
Spring Semester Dates
Early Registration Begins
November 11-22, 2013
United States, and I enrolled at
Trevecca Nazarene University,
where I earned a Masters of Arts
in Teaching. I had the fortune of
find a job I love, with an administration I adore, and a faculty
who provided the kind of support
necessary for an idealistic first
year teacher. I am now in my
sixth year of teaching reading to
eighth graders at H.G. Hill Middle School in Metro Nashville
Public Schools. I spend a large
part of every day delighted that I
can stand in front of my students
and guide them on their journeys
as readers and writers. I also am
currently working toward my
National Board Certification.
I enrolled in the PhD. in Literacy
Studies program in June of 2010
and am hoping to graduate in
May 2014. I was drawn to the
program because of the multidimensional nature of the curriculum and the challenging range
of requirements. I wanted to
pursue a PhD because no matter
what goal I have set for myself, a
PhD has always been the academic finish line that I knew I
wanted to cross.
My favorite moments with the
program so far include being able
to work with Burundi refugees as
January 17, 2014
Classes begin
January 21, 2014
MLK Day—No Classes
January 31, 2014
Last day to file Intent to Graduate Form
for May 2014 Graduation
March 11-17, 2014
Spring Break—No Classes
March 29, 2014
Last day to file dissertation for May
graduation
a part of Literacy from a Sociocultural Perspective and working with the Nashville Adult
Literacy Council teaching immigrant adults to read as my Practicum this summer.
Harkening back to my international endeavors, my research
interests also have a global perspective. I am currently writing
my dissertation which is entitled
“Scaffolding Content-Area Vocabulary Instruction for EL Students.” I am interested in
providing research-based strategies to assist all teachers in
teaching the multitude of students from a variety of cultures
who sit in the modern American
classroom.
Fall/Winter Conferences and Calls for Papers
Upcoming Conferences
13th Annual SLAT Conference; Feb. 28—Mar. 14, 2014; Tucson, AZ.
4th Annual Alabama Modern Languages Conference; Feb. 7-8, 2014; Tuscaloosa, AL.
27th Annual CUNY conference on Human Sentence Processing; The Ohio State University; Columbus,
OH; March 13-15, 2014.
Australian Mathematical Psychology Conference 2014; Feb. 12, 2014; Australia; http://
ampc14.eventbrite.com.au/
South Eastern Conference on Linguistics; Mar. 27-29, 2014; Myrtle Beach, SC.
2014 AERA Annual Conference; April 3-7, 2014; Philadelphia, PA.
April 1-12, 2014
Early registration begins
Calls for papers
May 1, 2014
Last day of classes
SECOL; Mar. 27-29, 2014; http://ww2.coastal.edu/secol81/index.html; Deadline 12/31/2013.
28th AAAI-14; Quebec City, Quebec, Canada; Abstracts due 01/31/2014; http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/
AAAI/aaai14.php.
Smarter, Thinking Brains for a Common Core Era; New York, NY; Deadline 4/1/2014; http://
www.learningandthebrain.com/Event-271/Smarter,-Thinking-Brains-for-a-Common-Core-Era/
Program.
Page 2
Volume 3, Issue 2
Publications, Presentations, & Posters
Presentations
 Maxwell, M., Schrodt, K. (September 2013). Using Picture Books to Teach Persuasive Writing.
Middle Tennessee Writing Project Conference.
 Schrodt, K. (September 2013). Using QR Codes in Common Core Writing. Middle Tennessee Writing Project Conference.
 Fain, J., Hasty, M., Maxwell, M., Schrodt, K. (October 2013). Emergent Understandings of the
Schooling Literacy Project: Diverse School Generating Close Reading & Critical Responses to
Global & Informational Texts. 23rd Annual Association of Christian Education Preparation Programs (ACEPP) Conference, Memphis, TN.
 Magne, C. (October 2013). Music Aptitude and Speech Rhythm Sensitivity. Invited Talk at the University of Memphis
 Johnson, D. (October 2013). Finding Your Voice within Culturally Responsive Texts. 2013 Annual
Kentucky Reading Association Conference, Lexington, KY.
Stay Connected with
past and present Literacy Studies PhD Students!
Literacy Studies page on D2L “friend” us on Face‐
book at h p://
www.facebook.com/
 Skae, L.(November 2013). Student Engagement with YA (Young Adult) Literature. Annual Meeting
of the Mid-South Educational Research Association, Pensacola Beach, FL.
 Johnson, D. (November 2013). Counter Narratives and Critical Literacy: Reflections on a year of
practice. 2013 Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education Virtual Conference.
 Kyungtae K., Elleman, A., Kim, J., Brooks, C. (November 2013). Yearly Growth Rates on Curriculum-Based Measurement of Reading with Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Population . Annual
Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association, Pensacola Beach, FL.
“Every book is a
children's book if the
kid can read!”
― Mitch Hedberg
 Jung, S. , Herman, J., Kim, J. (November 2013). Perception Differences between Parents and Teachers of Children at-risk of Dyslexia. Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association, Pensacola Beach, FL.
 Moon, H., Kim, J., Fuller, D. (November 2013). Relationship among Personality, Religiosity, and
Political Orientation using Structural Equation Modeling . Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association, Pensacola Beach, FL.
The Dissertation Journey by Carol Roberts
Page 3
“The Dissertation Journey is a no-nonsense guide by Carol
M. Roberts to avoiding procrastination, wasted effort, and
confusion; it outlines practical, step-by-step guidelines from
conceiving a topic to publishing its results. Packed with both
helpful general suggestions and specific tips, tricks, and techniques tailored to the needs of doctoral students, The Dissertation Journey includes checklists, sample forms, time management advice, the latest insights to making use of technology, recommendations for support groups, lists of resources
for further inquiry, and much more. The Dissertation Journey
is especially recommended reading for anyone approaching
or hard at work on their own dissertation.” (Reviewer’s
Bookwatch, December 2004)
Faculty and Student News
Dr. Jwa Kim completed another half marathon this
fall with his fastest time yet and under two hours (1
hour, 59 minutes, and 47 seconds)!
Kyungtae Kim won graduate research honors at this
year’s Annual MSERA Conference in Pensacola, FL.
Congratulations to Leticia Skae on her recent marriage.
Volume 3, Issue 2
Program News
Middle Tennessee State University
Ph.D. in Literacy Studies Program
MTSU Box 402
Murfreesboro, TN - 37132
Newsletter Editors
Aleka Blackwell, aleka.blackwell@mtsu.edu
Dorian Johnson, dlj3z@mtmail.mtsu.edu
http://www.mtsu.edu/literacy/
Ling Wang successfully defended her dissertation “The Effects of Single and Dual
Coded Multimedia Instructional Methods on Chinese Character Learning” on
Wednesday, October 30, 2013, and will graduate in December 2013. Congratulations, Dr. Wang.
The Literacy Research in Progress Conference will take place February 15, 2014.
The call for proposals will be sent out no later than December 2013, and proposal
abstracts will be due January 10, 2014.
Please come along with your significant others and a dish to share to the 2013 Literacy Studies Holiday Gathering, December 14, 2013, at 1:30 p.m., at the Foundation
House.
The 8th Annual MTSU Linguistics Olympiad will take place on February 1, 2014.
Volunteers are still needed. Please contact Dr. Aleka Blackwell
(aleka.blackwell@mtsu.edu).
Publications, Presentations, & Posters
continued...
 Schrodt, K., FitzPatrick, E., Fain, J. (November 2013 ). (Re)
inventing the Research Paper with Multi-Genre Writing. National Council of the Teachers of English Annual Convention
Boston, MA.
 Pridmore, M., Magne, C., Lense, M., Gordon, R., Key, A.,
Dykens, E. (November 2013). Affective Priming Effect of
Music on Emotional Prosody in Williams Syndrome. Fifth
Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, San Diego, California.
 Magne, C., Pridmore, M., Brunas, N. (November 2013). Influence of Word Stress Sensitivity on a Visual Lexical Decision Task. Fifth Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language, San Diego, California.
 Magne, C., Hubbard, T., Langston, W. (November, 2013).
Spatial Arrangement of Vertically Related Word Pairs affects
the N400 Component. Fifth Annual Meeting of the Society
for the Neurobiology of Language, San Diego, California.
Publications
Compton, D. C., Miller, A., C., Elleman, A. M., & Steacy, L. M.
(2013). Have we forsaken reading theory in the name of 'quick
fix' interventions for children with RD? Scientific Studies of
Reading.
Page 4
Publications in the field
Discovering Statistics Using SPSS by Andy
Field. (2013). Andy Field's comprehensive and
bestselling Discovering Statistics Using SPSS
4th Edition takes students from introductory
statistical concepts through very advanced
concepts, incorporating SPSS throughout.
New Methods of Literacy Research edited by
Albers, P., Holbrook, T., and Flint, A. (2013).
Literacy researchers at all stages of their careers are designing and developing innovative
new methods for analyzing data in a range of
spaces in and out of school. Directly connected
with evolving themes in literacy research, theory, instruction, and practices—especially in
the areas of digital technologies, gaming, and
web-based research; discourse analysis; and arts-based research—
this much-needed text is the first to capture these new directions in
one volume. Written by internationally recognized authorities
whose work is situated in these methods, each chapter describes the
origin of the method and its distinct characteristics; offers a demonstration of how to analyze data using the method; presents an exemplary study in which this method is used; and discusses the potential
of the method to advance and extend literacy research.